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Saturday, October 15, 2005

KNIGHT RIDDER buys community newspapers in Silicon Valley

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Knight Ridder(NYSE: KRI) today announced the acquisition of Silicon ValleyCommunity Newspapers, which publishes eight weekly free-distributionnewspapers in the South Bay area surrounding San Jose. The eight are:Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Saratoga News, Cupertino Courier, SunnyvaleSun, Campbell Reporter, Willow Glen Resident, Rose Garden Resident andAlmaden Resident. The group also includes the San Jose City Times, alegal newspaper, and a glossy publication called Image.

The newspapers, which together comprise the assets of Silicon ValleyCommunity Newspapers, are weekly publications with a combinedcirculation of more than 157,000. Terms of the transaction were notdisclosed.

Knight Ridder Senior Vice President Hilary Schneider said, "We believestrongly in the importance of community journalism, which we know ishighly valued by readers. This group of tightly zoned weeklies willhelp us extend our coverage of micro-communities in the Bay Area. Theyserve a series of neighborhoods that are also highly desirable toadvertisers.

Greg Goff, Knight Ridder general manager/targeted publications, said,These weeklies have been serving readers for 20 years. They providesaturation coverage of their respective areas in the South Bay and area good fit with our Palo Alto Daily News Group of free dailies, whichare located primarily in the Peninsula. We're very pleased to beadding them to our company.

David Cohen, currently publisher and CEO of the group, manages andoperates the publications and will continue to do so for KnightRidder. He will report to Goff. The plan is to maintain the operationsas they are now configured, Goff said.

Cohen said, "This was an easy decision, because I know that KnightRidder is committed to continuing our high quality, fiercely localcoverage. With the resources of Knight Ridder, we will be able tofulfill our vision of bringing our brand of community journalism to agreater audience.

The oldest of the papers dates back more than 120 years. The weekliesprovide coverage of local schools, youth sports, local government,business, law enforcement, features, opinions and community profiles.

Knight Ridder is one of the nation's leading providers of news,information and advertising, in print and online. The companypublishes 32 daily newspapers in 29 U.S. markets, with a readership of8.5 million daily and 11.0 million Sunday. It has Web sites in all ofits markets and a variety of investments in Internet and technologycompanies. It publishes a growing portfolio of targeted publicationsand maintains investments in two newsprint companies. The company'sInternet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages thecompany's online properties. It is the founder and operator of RealCities (http://www.RealCities.com), the largest national network ofcity and regional Web sites in more than 110 U.S. markets. KnightRidder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.